Senior Seminar Students

Statement: I am intrigued by myself- my hair, my
identity, my background, my complex duality, my thought process. Yes it
sounds vain, but if you're not interested in yourself than how
interesting can life really be? Other things that interest me are FOOD,
dreams, international development, the homeless, the elderly, crimes
against humanity, immigration reform, my family, first generation
American lifestyles, sound and lighting production, event planning,
public speaking, children, interracial relationships, languages, first
impressions, and more that doesn't come to mind right this instantAmanda's Artists Blog

Riley Spencer:

Statement: Currently my sketchbook is filled with
altered photographs. This was the path I thought I wanted to take.
Physically altering the image in the “photoshop” world we live is was
something that really interested me. The more I altered these pictures
that more I realized that I was helping myself “see” physical
connections in my images and real world. Ultimately I think the
connections, which I made, are something that I want people to find for
themselves. As of now I’m sure I can entirely define what I mean by
“connections” but I’m hoping I will be able to more clearly state my
intentions during the creation of my final pieces. I haven’t yet figured
out how/ if I want to incorporate what I am doing in my sketchbook in
my final pieces.Riley's Artist Blog

Evan Fowler:

Statement: I love
humans and the way that instead of being perfect, they are perfectly
themselves–full of potential and full of faults. I love the color and
cultures of Africa, the warmth and clarity of the equatorial sun, and
the way I feel both in-focus and insignificant under its rays. I love
the endless things you can learn from reading–about science and society
and relationships and life. Mostly, though, I love sitting with one
person and listening to them tell me their story. How do people touch
each other’s lives? How does the expanding the scope of our world affect
who and what we think about? Can someone’s story be as effectively told
in a voice that is not their own?Evan's Artists Blog

Amy Lokoff: Statement: My artwork has never
had much consistency in subject matter or style, yet over the last year I
find it has moved increasingly away from concrete imagery. My interests
as of late lie mainly in two areas: metacognition and memory. When
thinking about thinking I am compelled by how our most intimate and
private thoughts can be so universal, as demonstrated through
literature, film, and the wide of world of the internet. I am interested
in the fluidity of movement between our thoughts and the disparity
between what we think and what we do; more specifically, in the
contradictions in speed, action, and reaction between the mind and body.

Currently I find that I have many questions and problems to
pose and little direction in finding solutions. I feel like I am on the
brink of understanding which direction to take. For me, so much of art
is about introspection and curiosity. I am searching for a method to
explore abstract ideas while still remaining accessible and revealing an inter-connectivity to viewer. Amy's Artists Blog

Hannah O'Brien:

Statement: As a
Law and Society major, I am very interested in law, and the legal
system, as well as crime, and prisons, and the role of judges. What
interests me most is theories on why individuals commit crime, and what
those theories then suggest as remedies to the crime problem. I am also
interested in education reform, and community organizations that work to
environments that foster children’s success. Related to these
interests, I am interested in how our government, with all its checks
and balances helps and hinders policies that advocate actual, and
long-term change in American institutions. Unrelated to the above
interests, I am interested in animals, specifically ocean life, sharks,
and dogs.

When thinking about my these concepts, the questions they raise
for me are, why do people commit crime? What are we going to do about
it? What is the best way to help children grow up to be successful? Why
does our government spend its money on easy fixes, like pumping money
into prisons, and not on proactive programs that would work to keep
people from going to prison in the first place? How much discretion
should the judicial system, specifically judges have? Is our system of
government as good as it gets, or are there ways to make it better? How
cool would it be to be a shark?

Daniella Napolitano: Statement:
Both of my parents work in medicine so I’ve been around science and
medical textbooks as long as I can remember. My interest in nature
started at an early age when I habitually watched Animal Planet and
nature documentaries. Everything about the natural world fascinates me
from cute animals to more morbid subjects. I’m also really fascinated in
how people interact with and think they interact with “nature” in
general.

Has civilization expanded to the point where it is impossible to go back to a “pure natural state?”We’ve created a complex urban ecosystem, so why do people believe that the nearest they will get to nature is a zoo? If
humans are mammals than why do we see ourselves outside of the animal
kingdom? How do people fit into the “natural order of things?”Daniella's Artists Blog